


Korra, The Romantic

by LazyWriterGirl



Series: In Any Scenario - Korrasami Month 2016 [6]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Dorks in Love, Everybody Other Than Korrasami is Support, F/F, Korra Does a Thing, Korrasami - Freeform, Korrasami Month 2016, Prompt: Spirit World 2016, i tried to make it cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 01:19:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8601589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyWriterGirl/pseuds/LazyWriterGirl
Summary: "In their relationship, Asami is the romantic one, the one with initiative, the one with ideas, the planner; and Korra is…well, she’s not that. If you ask anybody who knows her, really knows her—not counting Ikki or Meelo because they’re still a bit too young to be asked questions like this—Korra is the raw emotion, the spontaneity; though not even in a way that comes off as romantic so much as thrill-seeking. But she can’t even claim that, because honestly Asami Sato has a way of just being perfect, and while it never fails to make Korra feel all weak in the knees, she’s also slightly annoyed that her friends think she’s just completely incompetent at romance by comparison.
But she could be. When she looks at Asami, when she thinks of the way that Asami loves her, she knows that she could be anything. Anything at all, for the woman she loves, and if that isn’t a romantic thought then Bolin can cook Pabu in a pot."
Prompt fill for Korrasami Month 2016 - Spirit World (2016)





	

There’s only one thought repeating itself in Avatar Korra’s mind as she rides the new express train from Ba Sing Se to Republic City: Asami Sato is the best girlfriend in the world, and she deserves something special their first anniversary.

 

It’s still entirely too early to be thinking about it, technically, but Korra is relatively certain that she and Asami will be together for a very, _very_ long time, and this is the first chance she has to really impress the woman she loves.

In their relationship, Asami is the romantic one, the one with initiative, the one with ideas, the planner; and Korra is…well, she’s not that. If you ask anybody who knows her, really knows her—not counting Ikki or Meelo because they’re still a bit too young to be asked questions like this—Korra is the raw emotion, the spontaneity; though not even in a way that comes off as romantic so much as thrill-seeking. But she can’t even claim that, because honestly Asami Sato has a way of just being perfect, and while it never fails to make Korra feel all weak in the knees, she’s also slightly annoyed that her friends think she’s just completely incompetent at romance by comparison.

But she could be. When she looks at Asami, when she thinks of the way that Asami loves her, she knows that she could be anything. Anything at all, for the woman she loves, and if _that_ isn’t a romantic thought then Bolin can cook Pabu in a pot.

 

Which he would never do, ever, obviously, because everybody loves Pabu and also it was _romantic,_ that thought, and nobody can say otherwise.

 

Anyway, the point of the matter, the thing that Korra just really needs to stress to herself as she starts thinking of what to do for their first anniversary a full four months in advance, is that she too can be a romantic sap. She too, can give Asami the kind of first anniversary that she’ll want to talk about for the rest of their lives. Something that a woman like Asami, with all her money and her power and her renown and her perfection, will really, really appreciate. Something from the heart, Korra thinks, because really that’s all she can offer the other woman when it comes down to it.

 

She’s already got an inkling of an idea by the time the train pulls into Republic City Station, but she keeps it to herself when Asami’s Satomobile (another, flashier model that she’s almost certain won’t be made available to the public) pulls up beside her.

“I missed you,” she says instead, and Asami responds by pulling her in for a kiss that speaks volumes more than her words have.

When Asami pulls away she laughs, and Korra knows she has a dopey smile on her face when she asks, “What is it?”

“This just isn’t your colour, Korra,” says the CEO as her finger swipes across Korra’s lower lip. “Maybe something a little lighter? Hm. We’ll have to see about that.” The engine revs in time to Asami’s wink, and Korra feels her heart skip a few beats. “I know you must be tired but…my place?”

Korra knows that she’s blushing even as she slides into the Satomobile, nodding along like a metronome.

 

This anniversary gift is going to have to be _extra_ special.

Asami deserves it.

 

***

 

The first thing that she does after spending a few days with Asami—in the other woman’s bed, in the kitchen, in the shower, in the garage that one time—is head over to Air Temple Island. She knows that it’s rare for all of Tenzin’s family to be there what with all of the Air Nomads continuing their service work throughout the Earth Kingdom, but to her surprise they’re all seated at the table the way they used to be, when she’d first come to Republic City.

“Korra!”

The way that the three—now four—airbender kids scream her name as they run up to her is the same too, and she smiles so hard she’s worried she might hurt herself. “Hey! I swear I’ve only been gone a month or two, how are you all so big?”

In her arms, Rohan laughs. “I’m growing!” He’s so close to being four years old that Korra can barely believe it, and it’s true, he’s growing really well. A bit skinny compared to the babies in the South, but that’s all part of the diet.

Jinora shakes her head, not even choosing to comment because she’s a young lady now and obviously she’s going to keep on growing for a while. Korra can imagine her saying the words anyway, which is nice. Ikki jumps as high as she can without using her airbending to give her a boost. The top of her head goes past Korra’s, and at the sight Ikki claps and squeals so loudly that Korra is sure her eardrum has shattered.

“Whoa!”

“Look, Korra, I can jump higher than you without using my airbending!”

“Amazing,” Korra says, chuckling to herself because Ikki still doesn’t seem to have changed much from the energetic girl she used to be.

Of course, it’s Meelo who gets right to the root of everything, the question that’s surely on everybody’s mind dangling from his mouth as he dangles off of her arms like a little airbending monkey. “Whatcha doin’ here Korra?”

“What? I can’t just visit my favourite airbending family when I get back in town?”

“Of course we love seeing you,” Pema says in her gentle way. “But normally you come straight here so we just thought you were staying at Asami’s.”

She knows that Pema doesn’t mean to bring the blush to her cheeks but it comes anyway. Tenzin and Jinora cough awkwardly as the kids laugh around the strange tension that has made its way into their house. “Anyway, Korra, would you care to join us?” She doesn’t even have a chance to answer before Meelo has raced back into the kitchen and returned with an extra place setting.

“O-of course!”

 

One meal later and she’s exhausted most of her stories about her time in Ba Sing Se before Jinora loudly declares that it’s time for her siblings to get some rest. The wink that she shoots Korra’s way does wonders for Korra’s stress even though she has no clue why. Still, she nods gratefully in the teen’s direction before taking a deep breath and turning to Tenzin and Pema.

“Do you remember what gifts you gave each other for your first anniversary?”

Tenzin looks her dead in the eye, coughs, and excuses himself.

Pema laughs. “Never mind my husband, Korra. He’s never been a big fan of looking back on the early days.”

“That’s okay,” she says, because she gets it. Regardless of how close she and Tenzin have become, this is understandably not a conversation that he’d want to have with her—sometimes she’s almost certain that he hasn’t quite forgiven her for the whole joking-about-him-and-Beifong days. “But if you wouldn’t mind, Pema…”

“Trying to think of what to get Asami for your first anniversary?”

“Yeah,” Korra says, scratching the back of her neck. She knows that she shouldn’t feel bashful, that Pema’s basically a second mother to her and that this is a normal kind of conversation to have, but still. “I mean, what do you _get_ for a woman like that?”

“Well,” Pema says, “I’m sure you know that the most important thing is that you give her something from the heart. Do you have any ideas?”

And Korra’s been thinking about it over the past few days, been rolling that one thought in her head around and around and around and so yes, she thinks she might have an idea. She might. But she doesn’t want to ruin it by saying out loud

So she whispers it into Pema’s ear instead.

 

“Oh, _Korra,_ really?”

 

“What do you think?”

Pema studies her seriously, very seriously, and Korra is worried that the older woman will say that it isn’t a good idea; but Pema’s smile is so big and so wide and so happy for her that she knows that Pema would never say that. “If you think that that’s what you want to do, Korra, I think that that would be wonderful.”

 

Korra smiles and lets Pema chatter on and on about how romantic this idea is, and how special it will be, and she doesn’t interject because she’s now thinking in terms of where she can do this and she thinks, maybe, that there might be somewhere absolutely _perfect_ for what she has planned…but that’s a detail that she can work out _after_ she’s gotten the _what_ down. The _what_ is perhaps the most important part of it all; and she’s going to need her parents’ help for sure.

She looks at Pema, who’s smiling at her so brightly that she can only imagine how her mother will react when she tells her the news—it will probably be twice this bad. Still, it’s nice to know that she’s got somebody in her corner. “Hey, Pema? What do you think about…?”

She whispers a few words into Pema’s ear once more, and is surprised by the squeal that Tenzin’s wife manages to make. At least she knows where Ikki gets it from. She leaves shortly after this second secret is shared, and Pema’s whispered encouragements bolster her confidence. Korra’s pretty glad that she’d thought of this, honestly, because now it seems like the only gift that would be worthwhile.

 

The trickiest part about all of this early planning, Korra thinks, is that she has to sneak around while she works on making sure that everything is perfect. After all, she’s on a tight schedule as it is, with there being only about three and a half months left until their official anniversary. She doesn’t know when she’d become so fixated on this idea, on doing this for this _particular_ anniversary, but with all of the crazy things that have been going on in her life lately, it just kind of feels like the right thing to do.

“Hey, ‘Sami? Is it okay with you if I go visit the South for a bit? Like, starting tomorrow?”

“Yeah, of course,” Asami says, barely looking up as she leafs through pages upon pages of documents. “Tell Tonraq and Senna I say hi.”

“Sure thing, babe,” Korra says, pressing a kiss to the corner of Asami’s mouth so that she doesn’t smudge the lipstick that Asami had so carefully applied that morning.

“Charmer.”

“Always.”

“Oh, and Korra? Before you go? I was thinking…you know how our anniversary is in a few months?”

“Y-yeah?” she says, because she honestly hadn’t been expecting Asami to bring it up and _oh my spirits_ she hopes that this doesn’t interfere with what she’s got planned.

Asami’s smile is perfect and beautiful and it makes her forget why she’s so stressed out. “I was thinking…maybe, would you want to go to the Spirit World again? Same time as last year?”

“Oh!” _That’s perfect!_ She grins. “Yeah!”

“Amazing! I’ll make sure to leave those two weeks open then…I love you,” says Asami, her eyes catching hold of Korra’s long enough for the Avatar to become even more certain in her choice of gift than she’d already been. And the setting…she’s only disappointed she hadn’t thought of it before, because it’s going to make everything just that much more special.

“Love you more.”

_And I’m going to show you just how much._

 

***

 

The first thing that she does as soon as the ship pulls into the harbour is rush up to her parents for a big, warm hug. While it would theoretically be a simple matter to come home with more regularity, she has a duty to the world as its Avatar and she can’t just go home when she misses her mom and dad. Her mom, of course, notices that there’s something different about her almost right away.

“This isn’t just a regular visit, is it, sweetie.”

It isn’t even a question.

“Well, uh, not exactly, no. I mean, obviously I missed you both—

“And we missed you too, honey, but…why don’t we talk about this at home?” Her father throws one large arm over her shoulder. “After all, you’ve had a long trip.”

“Uh, yeah, okay, sure.”

Korra takes a deep breath. It isn’t that she’s afraid of how her parents will react to her news—in fact, she’s pretty sure that they’re going to be thrilled—but this is all nerve-wracking and new and she’s never done this before. _Come on, Korra,_ she says to herself as her parents talk about all the great things that have been going on in the South. _You can do this. All you have to do is ask for help._

She’s done a lot of growing up in the past and she knows that there’s no shame in asking for help, so why does this feel so difficult?

 

It doesn’t happen until dinner, but then she says “I need to talk to you about Asami” at precisely the same moment that her mother asks her, smile wide, “How are things with Asami?”

“Oh! Is something…wrong, dear?” her mother asks, concern clear in the set of her eyes.

“No! No, nothing’s wrong…quite the opposite, actually,” Korra says, and she knows that her parents can tell where she’s going with this by the conspiratorial smiles that fight their way onto both of their faces.

Her father smiles at her as he sets down his knife and fork, hands folding into each other over his plate. “Looks like you and I are going to have an interesting few weeks, Korra.” Her mother positively beams at them as she continues to eat, and Korra feels herself relaxing in spite of the blush that has taken over her skin.

She should have known that it would be this easy with them. It always has been.

“Oh, _Tonraq_ , our little girl is growing up so fast.”

 

Oh, _spirits_. She’s starting to feel as if she’s in one of Varrick’s corny romance movers.

 

***

 

When she heads back to Republic City almost a month later, it’s with sore hands and an aching back and a heart that feels like as if it could just fly away out of happiness. She’s proud of herself, she must admit, and while the Korra of old had been arrogant about almost every little thing, this new, mature Korra is a lot more careful in what she chooses to be proud about. The pouch tied to her waist jangles slightly in response.

She really, really feels like the heroine in one of those awful love-story movers that Bolin and Opal seem to enjoy so much.

“Only a few more months…”

She stops by airbender island first, having promised to show Pema the fruit of her labours, but she’s surprised when she’s greeted by not only Pema, but by Jinora and Tenzin as well. “Oh, hey guys!” Korra tries to keep her tone light even though her hand instinctively travels to the pouch at her side.

“You don’t need to worry, Korra, your secret is safe with us…your mother and father told me,” Tenzin says, smiling at her in the same proud, patient way he always has.

Korra smiles back, feeling herself calm down just a little. She nods at him, and at Jinora, who would have found out eventually anyway. The kid’s too smart for her own good, sometimes. “Thank you, Tenzin, Jinora. Would you like to see?”

The enthusiastic nod of Jinora’s bob and the small smile Tenzin shoots her way are encouragement enough when coupled with Pema’s excited giggles, and so she beckons them over to a table and unhooks the pouch from her waist. She breathes in deeply. “Tell me if you think that she’s going to like it, please.”

Korra pulls gently on the drawstring of the pouch and puts her hand inside of it, pulling out the pouch’s contents with a shaky, nervous sigh. She lays it out on top of the pouch, and steps back, allowing the three others to fawn over it. The response is almost instant.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful!”

“Wonderful!”

“Korra, you did such a great job!”

She feels the beginning of a smile on her lips. “But do you think that Asami will like it?”

Tenzin puts a hand on her shoulder, warm and familiar, and Jinora latches on to her other side in a big hug. Pema’s smile is radiant. “We know that she’s going to love it, Korra.” And Korra breathes a sigh of relief, because she’d thought that was true before, but now, for some reason, she _knows._

 

Now all she has to do is keep things a secret for just a little while longer.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

The portal looks much better now, now that the people of Republic City have begun to wholeheartedly embrace the Spirit World and what it means to live in harmony with spirits. The entire area has been covered in flowers and paved smooth and it’s just…it makes her feel proud, to be able to look at the portal and think that part of the people’s understanding, part of their acceptance, has come from her hard work. She’s proud of that, really, she is.

Almost as proud as she is of the fact that the woman holding her hand as they walk together towards the portal, the woman who works every day to rebuild what has been broken in their world, is the woman who loves her and whom she loves with more than her heart. Korra blushes without meaning to, because it’s kind of embarrassing to think up a line as cheesy as that on her own.

She’s going to blame Varrick and his movers for this sudden shift; yes, that seems like the best way to go about it.

“Are you ready?”

“Born ready,” she says, completely forgetting about Varrick when Asami takes her hand.

Asami laughs and steps into the glow first, pulling Korra in behind her. The warmth that pulls them into the Spirit World feels even better than usual, and she thinks that it might have something to do with Asami’s arms around her. _Spirits, I love her_. Korra drops a hand quickly to her own waist, making sure that the pouch is securely in place.

It’s been tough, keeping it from Asami, but she’s managed this long.

She doesn’t know when to reveal it, but she expects that when the time is right,she’ll know. Maybe in a week’s time? On their actual anniversary? “Raava, guide me,” she whispers under her breath as they step into the beautiful fields of the Spirit World. “What do you wanna do first, ‘Sami?”

“I’m not sure, really…just glad to be spending some time with you,” Asami says, and the blush that tints her cheeks is the cutest thing that Korra’s ever seen.

“Maybe we should pay Iroh a visit?”

“I think I’d like that, yeah.”

Korra feels Asami’s hand reach for hers once more and she takes it without hesitation, enjoying the feeling of solidarity that comes from entwining their fingers. By now, she’s been back to the Spirit World enough to familiarize herself with almost all the pathways that lead to Iroh’s perpetual tea party, and so she chooses a route that she knows Asami’s not seen yet; it will take them a little under an hour to get there, if they walk at this pace, and for some reason she just likes the idea.

She turns towards the right, nodding to a few furry-looking spirits as she and Asami pass.

Asami’s gentle cooing at the sight of the cute little guys is only the first reward of the trip.

 

“Korra, look!” says Asami as they come upon a charming little brook a few minutes. “This place is so beautiful!”

“Not as beautiful as you,” she says almost without thinking, winning the brief weight of Asami on her side as the nonbender gives her a gentle nudge. It isn’t nearly enough of a push to separate the hold they have on each other’s hands, but Korra is quick to push back, equally soft. She just likes the feeling of having Asami close.

“Such a flatterer,” Asami says.

Korra grins, winking at Asami with as much charm as she can muster. “Anything for you, babe.” Asami laughs, shaking her head at Korra’s cheekiness, and they continue down the path making small comments to each other here and there. Asami stoops to marvel at a tiny flower, so small and yet so perfect in its intricate little details that Korra thinks it’s almost a shame about the size of it.

That thought is amended when, only a few seconds later, they come across another version of the same flower, only this one is huge, the length of the stalk extending up to Asami’s shoulder. “Whoa,” Korra says, “I think I like the little one better...this is too much.”

All of the details that had been so tough to pick out on the smaller bloom are more than obvious on these bigger one, and Korra can’t decide if that’s a good thing or if now, perhaps, it’s all just a little too much. She doesn’t really comment when Asami starts making comparisons of the two plants; it’s nice, she thinks, to just get to watch Asami doing her smart-girl thing even here in the Spirit World.

She can’t help but place a kiss at the corner of Asami’s lips, smiling when the other woman asks her what that was for.

“Do I need a reason?”

“No,” Asami says, pressing her forehead to Korra’s. “Not at all.” And then she leans down slightly, lips angled over Korra’s, and the Avatar blushes and thinks that perhaps Varrick is on the right track with his stupid romantic movers and having to get the shots he wants “just so”…there’s something special about kissing here, with this strange, too-pretty flower in the background as Asami’s breath meets hers. Asami’s hands come to rest on her waist and Korra twitches slightly in the hold, angling her body into her girlfriend’s so that the Asami won’t feel the pouch.

It isn’t the right time for that. Not yet.

 

***

 

Iroh is as hospitable as ever, and the soon enough Korra finds herself watching Asami pay a match of Pai-Sho against a toad demon that looks strangely familiar. She’s never been interested in the game, sadly, never really had the time for it, and yet for Asami—especially in recent times—it’s become more than just a hobby. It’s become a way of feeling closer to her father, and Korra respects that.

“Avatar Korra, a word?” Iroh smiles at her pleasantly from behind his cup of tea.  She nods her agreement and follows him to a spot in the clearing just a short ways off from the Pai-Sho board, and when she turns around to face him again Iroh’s smile has gotten even wider. “That pouch at your waist. Does that contain that what I think it does?”

“I—yeah, uh...maybe What do you think it is, Iroh?”

“Is that…a _betrothal necklace_?” Now the old man’s smile is positively sneaky, and Korra can’t help but let out a nervous laugh.

“How did you know?”

“I may not be living in the regular world anymore, Korra, but I still remember the ways of romance,” he says. “And also, your little airbender friend may have mentioned something to me a few days ago. But don’t worry.”

Korra laughs again, less nervously this time. She isn’t surprised when he does not question her decision—after all, she may have been born in the Southern Water Tribe, but her father originally hailed from the North, and with the tribes of North and South coming together so well now she thinks that it’s only fitting to honour the custom. Something which she’s certain she wouldn’t have to explain to Iroh anyway.

Instead she smiles down at her feet before bringing her eyes to his and asking, as quietly as she can, “So…what do you think the odds are that she’ll say yes?”

Iroh shakes his head fondly, slowly. “You know the answer to your question better than I ever could, Korra.” She follows the serene tilt of Iroh’s head with her eyes only to find that she’s looking at Asami, who smiles as she dominates the Pai Sho board.

“Yeah. I think you’re right about that, Iroh.” She offers him a smile as he sips from his cup.

“Wonderful,” he says, and something tells her that he isn’t just talking about the tea.

 

Only a week left, she thinks when they return to the table; only two days before she can do what she’s wanted to do ever since she finished the necklace.

 

***

 

Roaming the Spirit World with Asami at her side is a wonderful thing. She’s reminded, in every second, of just how much she’d taken for granted before the events of Harmonic Convergence. The Spirit World is beautiful and thrumming with spiritual energy that regular people would never before have been able to experience, while as the Avatar it is something that should have been at her fingertips from the get-go (not that she regrets having to work so hard to finally be at peace with her connection to Raava and the spirits, of course). Asami finds something amazing in everything, in the smallest details and the biggest pictures, and Korra is almost as in awe of the Spirit World’s beauty as she is with the woman who points all of these things out for her with a smile on her face.

Korra’s resolve strengthens more and more as the day of her proposal draws ever nearer, and on the night before their anniversary she holds Asami close on a blanket underneath a tree, watching the stars, and thinks that she wouldn’t mind doing this for the rest of her life if given the chance.

“Hey, Korra?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you more, ‘Sami.”

“Not a chance.”

“Hey, I’m the Avatar, so what I say goes!” She tries to make a big show of puffing out her chest but it doesn’t work out so well when Asami’s head is resting on her. Instead, she just ends up making them both laugh, which is great too.

Asami looks up at her, then pulls herself up so that their faces are only inches apart, “So…I guess I’ve just ‘gotta deal with it’, huh?”

Korra blushes, embarrassed by her mother’s habit of telling that story to Asami _every time she visits,_ but she manages to stutter out a “Y-yeah”, winning a smile from the woman snuggled into her side _._ Asami’s lips brush hers gently, sweetly, and then they’re content to just lean against one another and the large tree behind them, staring up into the vastness of the Spirit World.

 

Korra feels the return of butterflies hit her stomach just as Asami’s head drops into her lap, because the next time she opens her eyes it will be their anniversary—the day when she finally, _finally_ gives Asami the gift she’s spent so much time working on and keeping a secret.

 

The next morning, when she wakes, her first impulse is to reach for the pouch at her waist but she calms herself, takes a breath, and instead looks for her girlfriend. Asami is already awake, a little ways off in the distance, but close enough to turn to Korra every few seconds. She waves when she notices that Korra is awake, but whatever she’s doing in the middle of the field, she doesn’t seem ready to stop.

That’s fine.

With Asami in sight, Korra reaches for the pouch. It’s time.

 

 

 

It isn’t there.

 

 

 

_Spirits, spirits…where_ is _that stupid pouch?!_ Korra knows that she shouldn’t hyperventilate just yet, that it could be close by; maybe it just came loose while she slept? Only, she’s certain she’d had her hand on it most of the night. She’d even woken up in the earliest hours of the day to double check the knots!

“Good morning, Korra,” Asami says, and she stands up slowly, careful to look all around her. Nothing on the ground. Asami smiles at her, so brightly that Korra thinks it’s almost blindingly perfect. “Happy anniversary, sweetheart!”

Korra grabs Asami in a hug, eyes scanning the base of the tree as she twirls the other woman through the air. “Happy anniversary, babe!”

“One whole year with you,” Asami says when Korra puts her back down, “and it’s been the best year of my life.”

“I love you so much,” Korra says, forgetting, for a moment, that she’s supposed to be locating a missing pouch with an equally missing and infinitely more important betrothal necklace inside of it. “Uh… ‘Sami? Have you seen a…pouch, anywhere?”

“A pouch?” Asami asks, surprised by the abrupt change in topic.

“Yeah,” she says. “You know, just like, a plain hide pouch.”

“I can’t say that I have…” Asami says slowly, “Are you okay, Korra?”

“Yeah,” she says, though she’s racking her brains furiously, trying to figure out where in the Spirit World that stupid pouch could be. This cannot be happening, she thinks. Cannot. Be. Happening. “Yeah, I’m fine just…I need to find that pouch. It’s urgent.”

Asami looks at her strangely for a moment before the quirk of her lip gives way to a loving smile. “Okay. I’ll help you.”

That’s it. She’ll help. No questions asked. Nothing. Korra can’t resist, and she plants a kiss on Asami’s surprised lips before taking her girlfriend’s hand and pulling her towards the path they’d taken to Iroh’s. “We should retrace our steps!”

Asami only nods and follows along, and Korra feels guilty. She can’t imagine that this is the ideal way to begin a first anniversary, but honestly if she can’t find that pouch, there’s nothing that she can do to save the day.

 

Gone is the relaxed attitude from one week ago, replaced by an increasingly panicked Korra and an increasingly confused Asami. She can’t bring herself to say what’s wrong, because to say it would spoil the surprise and honestly at this point she’s not about asking Raava for a miracle.

She knows that that’s not how Raava works, of course, but if it was, she wouldn’t be above asking.

They rush past the tiny little flower and its overly-large, obnoxious cousin, past the brook that gurgles along softly, past Iroh and his perpetual tea-and-Pai-Sho-party, and through field upon field of flowers and plants and all sorts of things that, normally, Korra would find fascinating.

She doesn’t notice the change until Asami pulls on her hand and digs in her heels, and she’s been holding on so tightly that she just completely stops moving. “What is it, ‘Sami?”

“Korra, what’s wrong? The Spirit World…looks strange.”

“What do you m—

“Look.”

Korra turns and, sure enough, large storm clouds have begun to roll in over the field in which they now stand. She turns around, taking up Asami’s hand again, and makes a dash for the cover of the nearby forest as panicked spirits run around and around themselves in circles. She knows that it’s up to her to control this, that she can stop this, that she can help everybody to relax, but it’s so hard and she just _needs_ to find that pouch.

Needs to find it.

Needs to tell Asami how she feels.

How she wants to spend the rest of their lives together.

“You do?”

_Spirits._ Korra turns around to see Asami’s face and it’s the most beautiful face in the history of…beautiful faces. She can’t think right now, she’s just really focused on finding that pouch and reassuring her spirit friends that everything is okay. “Yes…but, ‘Sami, before I say more, please, we have to find that pouch.”

Asami nods, though the blush on her cheeks is still present and so very red, and when they run back through the forest she’s even more active than she’d been on the first run-through. It’s only when they get past Iroh and his now-fidgety guests that a clue turns up. And by clue, what Korra means is that she sees the pouch…and the little flower spirit with a big, obnoxious bloom on its head that’s carrying it away.

Letting go of Asami’s hand, she sprints after the silly little thing, only to find that it’s faster than she’d thought. “Come back here!”

“Korra!”

She hears Asami chasing after her, but she just really needs that pouch back, and for that spirit’s sake the betrothal necklace had better be in there as well. _This would be so much easier if I could bend!_ The flower spirit stops by the edge of the brook and turns back to look at her. She thinks that it might be laughing, but she doesn’t care as she dives for it, grabbing on to the pouch with enough strength to pry it loose from the spirit’s spindly little fingers. She soars, for a moment, over the offensively large flower, pouch in hand, victorious!

 

And then she lands in the brook.

 

The spirit laughs as it dances away from her, but all that Korra cares about is the contents of the pouch as she rolls up into a sitting position. Her hands fumble a bit with the pouch before she loosens the drawstring and reaches inside. _Please please please please please._

When her hand comes out with Asami’s betrothal necklace, perfectly intact and as good-looking as ever, she heaves the heaviest sigh of relief that she’s had to heave in about a year.

“Thank you Raava,” she says just in time to hear Asami’s footsteps come to a halt.

“Korra, are you o—is that a…Oh my…”

Korra looks up and notices Asami’s eyes; specifically, where they are looking, directly at the betrothal necklace in Korra’s hands. She’s holding it up just-so, like one of Varrick’s demonstrators, except that she’s sitting in the middle of a brook, cool water soaking through her trousers and underclothes. “I…this is so not how I envisioned this going,” she says. Slipping the necklace back into the pouch and standing up carefully, so that she doesn’t slip, she manages to get out of the brook. “So…”

“We should probably get back to camp before…” Asami trails off, takes her hand absentmindedly, and begins to lead the way. Korra isn’t sure if that’s a good thing or not but honestly she’s not about to argue. She is _thoroughly_ uncomfortable in these clothes.

 

And also thoroughly upset because this was so  _not_ the perfect proposal she'd hoped to make...but that's slightly less of a pressing issue right now, if the crawling sensation along her back is any indication.

 

***

 

A few hours later and their anniversary is almost officially over. The sky is still a muddled grey colour that doesn’t suit the vibrancy of the Spirit World, but Korra can’t help it. She’s nervous. Asami’s been busy helping her take care of her clothes—because while she brought extra, that’s her favourite set—and the search took up the better part of the day to begin with.

Eventually though, just as the first dark patches of night come to settle in across the expanse of the Spirit World, Korra takes a deep breath and just walks right up to Asami. “Hey, so…I know today wasn’t the greatest first anniversary ever but…”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Asami says, smiling. “I mean, we’ve been here before. I should have expected something crazy happening in the Spirit World, right?”

Korra can tell that Asami isn’t upset with her, which helps to relieve a lot of the tension that’s wrapped itself around her body like a coil. “Yeah…but…there’s still something that I want to say to you, Asami. Would you mind standing up?”

“O-of course,” Asami says, and Korra smiles because now Asami’s the one who’s nervous. She’s kind of glad for it, of course. Asami must know why this is happening, so the “surprise” element is gone, but still…this is big. This is important. The sky is doing weird things with its colours, all confused greys and calm deep blues and smatterings of hopeful stars all in a jumbled mess above their heads, but Korra doesn’t care about that right now.

All that she can see is the green of Asami’s eyes.

“I…uh.”

“Just relax, Korra. It’s just me,” Asami says, and the smile on her lips is so perfect and fond and wonderful that Korra knows it’s corny but her stress just melts away.

She drops to one knee, comforted by the press of the pouch against her hip as she takes Asami’s hand in hers. “Asami Sato. One year ago, we came here, to the Spirit World for a vacation after saving Republic City, and arguably the whole world. One week into our trip, you asked me to be your girlfriend.

“Well, it’s exactly a year later and now it’s my turn to do some asking of my own. I know that we’re young, and that there’s so much more that we have to do to help the people of the world before things feel normal again, but I also know…that I love you more than I’ve ever loved anybody else.

“I want to be there with you no matter what, even if that means having to listen to boring old guys talk about things I don’t understand like infrastructure or development costs. I want to be there to support and comfort you when you come home from a bad business day, or to support and congratulate you when you come home from a _good_ business day.” She pauses, because there was so much more she’d wanted to say but long speeches still make her anxious and she’s worried that the Spirit World is going to do something weird again if she doesn’t just…do this.

“Most importantly, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I know that today hasn’t been the best anniversary ever, but if you’d let me, I wanna try to make up for it on every anniversary we have after this, for the rest of our lives…so, Asami Sato,” and here she pulls out the necklace that Asami has already seen, holding it up so that the carving shows up clearly in the pale light of the stars, “Will you marry me?”

“Of course I will!” And Asami, with tears in her eyes like the perfect girl in the perfect romantic tale, pulls Korra up from her knees and kisses her, and Korra can feel her own tears on her face even though she hadn’t thought that she would cry at this moment. Asami’s hand is warm around the betrothal necklace, and she only takes a moment to admire it before she says, “Korra, this is beautiful…help me put it on?”

And Korra ties the necklace in place, making sure that it won’t slip off of Asami’s neck, and then Asami is in her arms and the Spirit World feels _right_ again. Better than right. She turns for just a moment, reluctant to look away from Asami’s face, but there’s a strange light coming for…oh wow.

“What do you know? A night rainbow!”

“I guess the spirits approve, huh?”

Korra turns back to Asami and smiles.

 

 

***

 

 

 

The second week of their vacation passes by even more quickly than the first, and soon enough they’re approaching the portal once again, this time on the way home.

“The first thing we need to do when we get back to Republic City is to go and get you an engagement ring,” Asami says as her lips press against Korra’s cheek.

“Hey, no rush on that,” she replies. It doesn’t really matter to her; they’re engaged and everything is perfect, and a ring is just a symbol of a promise that they’ve already made. She reaches down, taking Asami’s hand into her own and locking their fingers together. “So…how did our first anniversary go?”

 

Asami squeezes her hand and leans in close as the warmth of the portal begins to spread over them both.

 

“It was perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! Hope you enjoyed that, feel free to hmu [ on Tumblr ](https://lazywritergirl.tumblr.com) if you wanna chitchat. I'm shipper trash and like to talk about it!


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